Modern communication networks are designed to provide high speed voice and data communication services to mobile devices. Such voice and data communication services enable the mobile devices to originate communications (e.g., mobile originated (MO) communications) to remote devices, and/or receive communications (e.g., mobile terminated (MT) communications) from the remote devices, and may also provide multimedia services, such as video streaming services, video call services, music streaming, etc. to the mobile devices. To facilitate such services, some communication networks, such as a cellular network, include a home location register (HLR) that stores information associated with mobile devices operating within the cellular communication network. For example, the HLR may store identity information (e.g., an international mobile subscriber identity (IMSI) number) for each mobile device that is subscribed to the cellular network. The HLR may also store location information that identifies network entities (e.g., a visiting location register (VLR), a general packet radio service (GPRS) support node, a serving GPRS support node (SGSN), etc.) that support a portion of the cellular network where the mobile device is presently located. Such location information may be used to route communications and service data to the mobile devices as the mobile devices roam from one services area of the cellular network to another. For example, when a MT communication is initiated to a mobile device in the cellular communication network, a query is sent to the HLR to determine a present location of the mobile device, so that the MT communication may be routed appropriately.
Additionally, some modern communication networks may include an internet multimedia subsystem (IMS) that provides an architectural framework for providing multimedia and other services (e.g., Wi-Fi calls) to the mobile devices. IMS networks include a home subscriber server (HSS) that operates as an HLR for the IMS network. For example, the HSS may store identity information for each mobile device coupled to the IMS network, and may also store location information that identifies IMS network entities supporting a portion of the IMS network where the mobile device is presently located. From a service provider standpoint, it may be cheaper (e.g., less demand for resources on the cellular network, etc.) to route MT communications (e.g., MT communications received at the IMS network and/or the cellular network) to the mobile devices via the IMS network, rather than the cellular network, whenever the mobile device is connected to the IMS network. However, according to the network standards specifications (e.g., 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) and 3GPP2 specifications) for cellular and IMS networks, the HLR and the HSS are to operate in parallel (i.e., as autonomous entities). Due to this design requirement, the HLR may be unaware of the mobile devices that have dual registration with both the HLR (e.g., the cellular network) and the HSS (e.g., the IMS network). Therefore, all MT communications received via the cellular network may be routed to the mobile device via the cellular network, even when the mobile device is simultaneously connected to both the cellular network and the IMS network.
Additionally, some mobile devices are configured to send and receive data via connections to wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi) networks or Long Term Evolution (LTE) networks. Such connections may be registered with the HLR and/or the HSS and may be used to route MT communications received at the cellular network and/or the IMS network to the mobile device via the Wi-Fi network or LTE network. This may reduce a cost to operate the cellular network and the IMS network, and may also reduce demand for resources in the cellular and IMS networks. Additionally, routing the MT communications to the mobile device via the Wi-Fi network may reduce a cost to operate the mobile device. For example, communications initiated by or received at the mobile device via the Wi-Fi network may not consume minutes of a subscription that a user of the mobile device has with a service provider that operates the cellular network and/or the IMS network, and may not consume a portion of a data plan of the subscription.
When the mobile device is connected to multiple networks (e.g., the cellular network, the IMS network, and/or the Wi-Fi network), the HLR and HSS may designate a last connection registered as a primary connection for routing MT communications received via the cellular network and the IMS network, respectively, to the mobile device. For example, if the mobile device registers the connection to the Wi-Fi network with the HLR, and subsequently registers a connection to the cellular network with the HLR (e.g., through a periodic update of the connection to the cellular network, a handover procedure within the cellular network, a new connection to the cellular network, etc.), the HLR may designate the connection to the cellular network as the primary connection for routing the MT communications received via the cellular network to the mobile device even if the mobile device is still connected to the Wi-Fi network. Thus, the resources of the cellular network may be utilized to provide communications and services to the mobile device even though the mobile device is simultaneously connected to the Wi-Fi network. This increases the costs to operate the cellular network and increases demand for resources within the cellular network. Additionally, this increases the cost to operate the mobile device, since minutes or a portion of a data plan of the user's subscription with the service provider may be consumed.
As another example, because the HLR and HSS operate autonomously, the HLR may designate the connection to cellular network as the primary connection for routing MT communications to the mobile device even if the mobile device has registered a connection to the IMS network with the HSS. Thus, the resources of the cellular network may be utilized to provide communications and services to the mobile device even when the mobile device is simultaneously connected to the IMS network. This increases the costs to operate the cellular network and increases demand for resources within the cellular network.
As yet another example, if the mobile device registers the connection to the Wi-Fi network with the HSS, and then subsequently registers a connection to the cellular network (e.g., through a periodic update, a new connection, etc.) with the HLR, MT communications received at the cellular network may be routed to the mobile device via the IMS network even though the mobile device is simultaneously connected to the Wi-Fi and cellular networks. Thus, the resources of the IMS network may be utilized to provide communications and services to the mobile device even though the mobile device is simultaneously connected to the cellular network and the Wi-Fi network. This increases the costs to operate the IMS network and increases demand for resources within the IMS network. Additionally this increases the cost to operate the mobile device, since minutes or a portion of a data plan of the user's subscription with the service provider may be consumed.